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Consultants welcome private sector
into run additional services
SERVICES - AS WORKFORCE PRESSURES TAKE THEIR TOLL
Doctors from across the UK have declared overwhelming
support today (3/12/03) for more private sector involvement
in the NHS. New research has found that 72% of consultants
believe that Government should use the private sector
to care for patients - if this helps to reduce waiting
lists.
Almost every hospital doctor interviewed for this
research also believed that greater private sector
involvement in the NHS was inevitable: 81% said that
the private sector would play a significant or slight
role in the running of the NHS in the medium term.
Set against a backdrop of ongoing scepticism about
Foundation Hospitals, this finding should send a strong
message to Government that doctors do still believe
that the private sector has a role to play in the
National Health Service.
Air Products is Europe's fastest growing medical
gases supplier and commissioned the research in response
to increasing requests for additional support and
services from both doctors and patients in the UK.
67 consultants were surveyed by Medix between the
25th and 29th of November.
The research also found that doctors are feeling
the pressures of an increasing burden on their time.
EVERY doctor was concerned about the impact of the
European Working Time Directive - all 67 consultants
believe that the new regulation which limits hours
spent on the wards will have a moderate to large impact
on their workload. Coupled with ongoing concerns about
the shortage of consultants (76%) and new administration
pressures (73%), hospital consultants are more willing
than ever to accept private sector support for the
care of their patients.
Air Products currently supplies medical oxygen to
thousands of patients across the UK and in response
to demand, is now introducing a new service to support
the NHS further. A Supported Early Discharge scheme,
which allows respiratory patients to return home sooner,
with daily supervision from a nurse in their own home,
is being introduced, thereby releasing beds in the
hospital and some of the burden from doctors' and
nurses' time. The scheme is being launched at the
start of the British Thoracic Society's Winter Meeting
in Westminster today.
In the research, respiratory physicians claim that
outsourcing Supported Early Discharge services for
patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
to private companies could be of significant benefit
to the NHS and have a positive impact on the increasing
workload of respiratory teams.
When asked about early discharge schemes specifically:
 90%
believed they would be beneficial in more rapid availability
of acute beds
81%
believed they would reduce risk of infection or re-infection
81%
believed they would increase the cost effectiveness
of caring for a COPD patient.
Supported Early Discharge "definitely reduces
the number of hospital acquired infections [and are]
cost effective" commented one physician.
Another said "Patients may feel more in control
of their health, and take more responsibility for
it with its beneficial mental effects." One
advantage of supported early discharge schemes according
to one physician was that it "creates motivational
forces for patients that they don't need to be in
hospital for so long and are less institutionalised."
Early Discharge services have also been shown to
speed up patient recovery, reduce the risk of infection
and improve patient choice. They can also have a significant
impact on the NHS as respiratory disease places a
particularly large burden on its resources: respiratory
emergency medical admissions account for on average
18.8% of all emergency medical admissions in the UK,
while the average length of stay for COPD patients
in UK is 9.7days 1. The
Air Products Early Discharge Scheme is being launched
at the start of the British Thoracic Society's Meeting
in Westminster today.
Commenting on the findings, Colin Smith, General
Manager Medical UK and Ireland for Air Products, said:
"This research confirms what doctors have
been telling us for months - that they would welcome
private sector support in the care of their patients.
The European Working Time Directive, ongoing shortage
of consultants and tight targets are all placing increasing
burdens on doctors' time and preventing them from
always giving patients the care they deserve. We hope
that our Early Discharge Scheme will help respiratory
doctors to get patients across the UK home sooner
and relieve some of the daily pressures they are facing
on the wards."
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